Arrangements described herein relate to tape-based data storage systems.
Current demands for Random Access data storage have been met by hard disk-based systems. Recently, business data requirements have increased dramatically; consequently, there has been significant growth in the amount of data storage needed. However, current technology has not been able to increase hard disk density to keep pace with the increasing data storage demands in order to provide a cost effective solution.
Data can be stored on a tape-based storage system. There has been relatively little development of tape-based data storage system over the last 30 years. Recent advances in tape using barium ferrite can store up to 35 TB of data in a space of 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters by 2 centimeters. Despite the ability for providing such high density, this type of medium only allows data access using sequential read/write methods. In such methods, tape is streamed from one spool to another spool and either written or read during this spooling process. It is not possible to advance to a particular location on the tape and access the data without waiting for a period of time for the system to spool to the desired location on the tape. This period of time can be particularly lengthy if the data is at or near the end of the tape.